At the beginning of the new year, I stopped listening to the radio in my car. This may seem a strange new year’s shift to make, but hear me out. Suddenly I have become more aware of and engaged with my surroundings. I am more present while driving. I appreciate the beauty all around me. I have thought about the people crossing in front of me at crosswalks and imagined their lives. I have lost some of the stress and sadness I have when I hear the news. This little change has had surprising impacts.
Rest assured, this isn’t the only change I’ll be making in 2017. Imagine we are starting the year with a whole new slate of opportunities. I’m not talking goals and resolutions. I’m suggesting looking at your time and attention differently from how you did last year.
What are the risks and what are the rewards of adding play, fun, genuine satisfaction of completing a project (big or small), developing new connections and celebrating personal satisfaction at the end of the day?
You have an opportunity every day to become more creative and less routine.
Life Coaching: Take the Wheel
You can do this with little changes, like I did in the car. I realized after I switched the radio off that I had been allowing what I heard to determine what kind of day I would have. With this small shift, I can decide what kind of day I want to have and then choose what “inputs” to let in. These small choices help set our focus, attention and intention in the right places. Instead of constantly living our lives reacting to the world around us, we can set our intention and choose the life we want.
The route to a satisfying quality of life begins with being aware of what you are doing and making the decision you want to improve on what works for you. Here are some examples:
- Doing fewer things but doing them better
- Talking more deeply with your family and friends
- Finding new ways to motivate yourself at work
- Being creative every day.
We tend to look at being “busy” as a hallmark of success. Really? I believe that “busy” word holds us back from an authentic and happy life.
In fact, it can have a negative effect and drag you down.
Listen to your own voice when you tell someone you have been “very busy”. How do you sound?
Why struggle with yourself? Don’t put off all those things you want to do, to be, to experience and to love. Find fun, find play and add them to your schedule. Re-organize your days with a new kind of busy and see where that takes you. Take the wheel and spend your time on things that excite you. With you at the wheel, your life will certainly have more of a chance of going the way you want it to.
Life Coaching with me uses exercises, tools, navigated conversations, and powerful questions to help you focus on creating your best life one day at a time. Imagine how you will feel about 2017 when this year is over.
What did you do to make it work for you?
Contact me for a complimentary, no-obligations life coaching consultation and we can work on setting powerful intentions together. Or use the Appointment Scheduler and pick a time that works for you. I coach 90% of my clients over the phone, and my DC-based Life Coaching clients have the option of meeting with me in person. I look forward to hearing from you.